Αναζαρετη
A Cypriot girl, a member of a noble family, descendants of Teucer, who founded Salamis in Cyprus. A young Cypriot called Iphis fell hopelessly in love with Anaxarete, but she was cruel to him. In his despair Iphis hanged himself at her door. She, far from being moved by the sight, merely wanted to watch the funeral procession as it passed beneath her window, because of the great number of people which Iphis' suicide had brought together, and the laments of the whole town which had been deeply touched by so moving a fate. Aphrodite, angered by Anaxarete's lack of feeling, changed her into a stone statue in the position she had taken up in order to look out of the window. This statue, known as Venus Prospiciens (Venus leaning forward to see) was placed in a temple in Salamis in Cyprus.
{E2 DICTIONARY OF CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY}
Table of Sources:
- Ovid, Met. 14, 698ff.
- cf. Antoninus Liberalis Met. 39 (related legend of Arsinoe and Arceophon).